The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley
Shelby Wilson, left, and Elizabeth Shahan spoke to the Randolph County Commission about its Opioid Settlement money during the Commission’s most recent meeting at the James F. Cain Courthouse Annex.
ELKINS — Two representatives from local organizations spoke to the Randolph County Commission about the opioid settlement money it received earlier this year.
Shelby Wilson, Opioid Coordinator for St. Joseph’s Hospital, and Elizabeth Shahan, Executive Director of West Virginia Prevention Solutions, presented the Commission with ideas at its most recent meeting.
Late last year, West Virginia started distributing checks from a fund created by the settlement of opioid lawsuits in the state. The Randolph County Commission said in January it was receiving $496,582.31 of the $73.5 million that would be dispersed to municipalities and counties in the state.
“We are both Randolph County born and raised, so this county has a personal sentiment to both of us,” said Wilson. “We are coming on behalf of ourselves and nobody else other than the community. We want to speak to you about the Opioid Settlement money that you received… We want to make sure that some of that money, or a large portion of it, goes toward treatment and prevention.”
Shahan told the commission there were two areas that she hoped they would consider — evidence-based prevention and evidence-based strategies.
“I’m not asking for any money, our goal is to be a resource for you,” Shahan said. “Research has shown over the last two decades that substance abuse and misuse can be treated and prevented. It’s vital that evidence-based prevention be the critical component of what you decided to use the funds for…
“The goal is that you devote at least 30 percent of your opioid settlement money to evidence-based prevention. That leaves 70 percent for other important strategies, which I’m sure you have discussed at length of what those could and plan to be. If we do only 30 percent, that will be a lot more than what we are already doing.”
Shahan told the commissioners that her organization already funds initiatives in Randolph County. She said there are evidence-based programs currently at Harman School and Tygarts Valley High School.
“Our goal is to help train those schools and give them all the strategies they can use on their own,” said Shahan. “That way if I have loss of funding or my grant disappears, everything is still there for them to use. We support the community to do for themselves.”
Shahan said programs that are not necessarily proven effective would be coming to the commission for a piece of the opioid settlement money. She added that she hopes the commission would consider the areas she spoke about and consider partnering with her and Wilson’s organizations.
“A lot is coming our way as a country, specifically targeting West Virginia,” said Shahan. “We have some of the best evidence-based prevention work in our state. When I go to national conferences, I’m typically educating others about what works and what doesn’t.”
Commissioner David Kesling said that the commission has been discussing ways to use the settlement money and said it has plans to form a committee in the near future.
“Commissioner (Cris) Siler and I attended a County Commissioner Association meeting in Charleston, and this was a lengthy conversation that they had with us,” Kesling said. “They presented us with several ideas and uses for the funds as well.
“We have discussed forming a committee made up of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s office, Community Corrections, and Shelby your and Elizabeth’s name came up as well. We would like you guys to be on that committee with us to see how the money is best spent. So we will be reaching out to you once we get this committee formed.”
The next Randolph County Commission Meeting will be Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
